NEW data released by the Care Quality Commission has revealed the number of deaths involving Covid-19 at individual care homes across the Bradford district.

The figures cover the period between April 10 last year and March 31 this year and are split into four quarters to provide a picture of when the deaths occurred.

The data only includes care homes which are registered with the CQC as having 10 or fewer beds.

In the Bradford district, the highest number of death notifications involving Covid-19 was 16, recorded at The Beeches Care Home, Wibsey, Cooper House Care Home, Horton Bank Top, and Mayfield View Care Home in Ilkley.

At The Beeches, all those deaths occurred in the fourth quarter, while at Cooper House, 15 occurred in the first quarter and one in the fourth.

Eleven deaths at Mayfield View occurred in the first quarter, one in the third and four in the final quarter.

Allerton Park Care Home, Allerton, recorded 15 deaths involving Covid-19 overall, as did Springfield in Buttershaw.

Five Rise Nursing Home, Bingley, recorded 11, while Crossley House, Thornton, recorded 10 deaths, as did The Gateway Care Home, Sticker Lane.

A number of care homes recorded just one death: Bierley Court, Bierley; Greystones Nursing Home in Heaton; Norman Lodge, Odsal; Sunningdale Care Home, Heaton; Bingley Wingfield Nursing Home and Cliffe Vale Residential Home in Shipley.

The figures largely reflect the national picture at the time, for example, in the second quarter, which covers July to September last year, just five care home deaths in Bradford involving Covid-19 were reported – a significant drop from earlier in the year when the first wave of the pandemic hit.

Figures then rose again as infection rates rose across the country.

In neighbouring areas, 24 deaths were reported by Craven Nursing Home in Skipton, the highest in North Yorkshire.

In Calderdale, Rastrick Hall and Grange reported the highest number of deaths in the borough with 17, while Lindley Grange Care Home, Lindley, reported the highest in Kirklees with 19.

Across the country, the highest number of deaths involving Covid-19 at one care home was 44.

The CQC said the impact of the pandemic who draw on and work in adult social care services has been “devastating”.

The watchdog highlighted that despite the best efforts of staff, Covid-19 has “contributed to a significant increase in the number of deaths in nursing and residential care settings”.

It also said: “It is important to note that death notifications do not in themselves indicate poor quality care, particularly given the potential influence of variable factors, including rates of local community transmission, size of the care home, and the age and health and care needs of the people living there. 

“Moreover, many notifications relate to the deaths of care home residents which occurred in other care settings.”

The data covers deaths of residents involving Covid-19 under the care of the provider as notified to CQC, regardless of where the virus was contracted or where the death occurred, including in the care home, in hospital, in an ambulance or in any other setting.

Kate Terroni, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said:  “In considering this data it is important to remember that every number represents a life lost – and families, friends and those who cared for them who are having to face the sadness and consequences of their death.  

“We are grateful for the time that families who lost their loved ones during the pandemic have spent meeting with us and the personal experiences they have shared. These discussions have helped us shape our thinking around the highly sensitive issue of publishing information on the numbers of death notifications involving Covid-19 received from individual care homes.  

“We have a duty to be transparent and to act in the public interest, and we made a commitment to publish data at this level, but only once we felt able to do so as accurately and safely as possible given the complexity and sensitivity of the data.

“In doing so, we aim to provide a more comprehensive picture of the impact of Covid-19 on care homes, the people living in them and their families. It is important to be clear, however, that although this data relates to deaths of people who were care home residents, many of them did not die in or contract Covid-19 in a care home. 

“As we publish this data, we ask for consideration and respect to be shown to people living in care homes, to families who have been affected, and to the staff who have done everything they could, in incredibly difficult circumstances, to look after those in their care.”